


Sing me a Song

by TesseractTown



Category: RWBY
Genre: And for those of you who dont know TLOU, Hurt/Comfort, Its basically zombie apocalypse, M/M, Mentions of Summer Rose - Freeform, TLOU AU, Wholesome, Zombie Apocalypse, quite a few of them - Freeform, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TesseractTown/pseuds/TesseractTown
Summary: Clover hears soft guitar songs from Qrow's room. He enters and learns a lot more than he was expecting when he comes to Qrow's room. He learns a lot more about Qrow's past, and about what he needs. All from a guitar he never knew Qrow played.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Sing me a Song

Soft strums of a guitar fill the hallway. They aren’t loud, they come through a door a little way up the hallway. Soft strums, with a soft voice echoing through the halls. Clover walks towards the enchanting sound. He was coming to see Qrow anyway. It is very rare to hear the sound of instruments up in Atlas, even with how virtually untouched the city is. It isn’t common you hear the rawness of just a guitar and a voice, even if Clover had even heard it.

He stops in front of Qrow’s door and knocks gently before opening the door slowly to see Qrow leaning against the wall of his room, guitar in his lap, tears streaming down his face. The singing had stopped, but as Qrow looks up, his fingers continue to move on the strings of the guitar. Clover shuts the door slowly behind him and walks over to Qrow, the floor squeaking beneath his feet. He leans up against the wall and slowly slides down to the floor, leaning his head on Qrow’s shoulder softly, “I didn’t know you played guitar.”

Qrow looks back down to his guitar, a tear falls and rolls down the side of it, “It’s Summer’s guitar.”

The silence continues after that, the only sound heard was the strumming of the guitar before Qrow starts singing softly again. Clover listens, that is the only thing he can do right now. Qrow is hurting, that part of it is clear, but what can he do when he barely knows what is wrong? He could ask, but that could be opening up a wound that Qrow didn’t want him to open up just yet.

So he listens, it’s all he cares to do. Talking can come later. They’ve all lost something, and Qrow has lost so much. Yet he carries on like nothing ever happened. But in the shadows it seems, he suffers. He has so much to live for, but so much to die for.

_The instrument is the only piece of her I have left_ , Qrow thinks to himself, _The only part of her that we got to keep, the only part of her that wasn’t lost._

He sits there, strumming this guitar that she left for them, willingly, or not. It has been the one thing that he hasn’t wanted to lose. The one thing that he could look at and feel so much pain. He takes a deep breath in, “I miss her a lot.”

He feels Clover’s head shift on his shoulder, listening. That’s all anyone ever does, listen. Listen but no do. What could one do to make this better? It’s been how many years now? And here he is with a gaping hole in his heart. A hug, a kiss, what good could they do? They wouldn’t fix anything. When able to do nothing, letting them know you are here no matter what. That is what listening is.

Just maybe, Clover wants to listen to Qrow’s songs just as he once listened to Summers. Maybe he wants to listen to his story. Everyone wants something, everyone wants to know that they are heard, but everyone wants to hear others as well.

So he sings for Clover, it will never bring Summer back, but it is the one thing he knows how to do. He can express his feelings through song. He taught Ruby her mother’s skill, and she keeps it going; letting everyone enjoy the feeling of music through hard times.

But no, he quit. Not entirely, it is just too painful to strum this guitar. The endless nights of sitting in the dark, watching the fire slowly flicker out. The kids sleeping cuddled up with their dad. Summer and Qrow making a secret hideaway in the tree line, sitting with a guitar, strumming away, learning the notes, making beautiful songs. The nights where Summer had Ruby on her lap and played songs for her, but for all of them to hear.

She always wanted everyone to be happy.

And now he’s here. They are here.

It’s _unfair._

If this was supposed to be the god’s punishment, why is she gone? Why do the best people in this world have to go? Why did they sentence the world to this? Why did they sentence him to this? Surely he cannot die, that is beyond what they wanted, what anyone wants. Ruby sings for them.

He sings for her.

Clover shifts beside Qrow and wraps an arm behind his back when Qrow starts to speak once again, “She was always the best of us, you know. Happy, cheerful, optimistic. Caring. She always looked out for us, always helped us make the right decisions,” Qrow took a deep breath as he wiped the tears away from his eyes, “She was the one who taught me how to play. Always said ‘You only need a little music to cheer you up Qrow!’ So she hid away and she taught me. Brought that fire into my heart that I was missing.”

“Then one day, she was gone. We lost a lot that day, but we lost her that day. Grabbed the girls, and we ran, gods we ran so fucking far.”

Qrow pauses and shifts the guitar to lay flat in his lap as he leans his head against Clovers, “She died, saving Ruby. We were ambushed by a horde before we made it to Beacon. Ruby was around four at the time. I’m sure she would love to see where Ruby has gotten now.”

Qrow smiles softly, “I went back to our camp around two days later to see if there was anything left. The horde was gone, but I’m sure I treaded carefully. Most things were destroyed, our supplies were I mean. But back behind one rock, was Summer’s guitar and some papers. I picked them up and just _ran_ I was so grief-stricken, I didn’t know what to do.”

Qrow shifts and grabs a paper beside him, carefully setting it on the guitar and running a finger softly over it, “They were songs for us. Ruby sings them.”

“I like to play when I miss her, it makes me feel like she is actually here. Like she is playing for me, not like I’m playing for her. It’s like I can hear those beautiful sounds she made that I so desperately miss. It’s not like she’s gone, shattering to pieces then flown away with the wind.”

“She always wanted to be a bird. Said that they could fly freely with the wind. Going wherever they wanted to go, see the sights, see the whole world. She wanted to take us with her, high up in the sky. All the freedom we would get, the feeling of adrenaline running through us.”

Qrow set the paper back on the small stack beside him, “But despite what she said, she was free. Her feet were on the ground, but she soared, oh she soared so fucking high, and she did bring all of us with her until her dying breath.”

“Sing me a song,” Clover whispered out, “I want to hear it.”

Qrow picked his head up and looked at Clover, then back at his guitar. It has been so long since he sang for, to someone else. It was almost a foreign feeling to Qrow. But something drew him to want to try. 

He picked up the guitar and grabbed a paper on the bottom of the stack, setting it beside him, “This was her favorite.”

Then he _sang_ like nothing in the world was holding him back. Like he was floating up high in the air again. Like he finally felt at home.

**Author's Note:**

> This was.... I don't know. But this is just a little of Yoom, Cara, and I's TLOU AU! It has... a lot of plot this is just a little of it xD


End file.
